Facing this news, Tobirama Senju remained as calm as ever, while Madara Uchiha's reaction looked even more shaken than Hashirama Senju's.
Madara couldn't help asking again, "Why?"
This time, Minato Namikaze answered. "Because the Senju clan has already blended completely into Konoha."
"When I was studying the Second Hokage-sama's Flying Thunder God Technique, I accidentally found a draft he once wrote—a plan for how to make the ninja clans abandon the idea of clan-first loyalty and devote themselves entirely to the village."
Since the document was unfinished, even Hashirama had never known his younger brother had been working on such a thing, much less Madara.
Hashirama's thoughts drifted back to that twilight when Kawarama died.
'Kawarama was only seven! When… when will this war ever end?!'
'All the adults are idiots! If they want the war to end, why not just sign a ceasefire with the enemy!'
'But then wouldn't our fallen comrades have died for nothing?' Their long-departed younger brother, Itama, had said that.
'Idiot. Say something like that again and you'll die too.'
Tobirama: 'You and the adults are too impulsive. If future shinobi suppress their emotions, establish strict rules, and follow them, they can avoid unnecessary conflict.'
Hashirama pulled himself out of the memory and looked at the brother who once said peace could be built upon rules.
"Tobirama…"
He turned sharply. Tobirama had always stood behind him, supporting his dream all the way to this moment, toward the future ahead.
The future wasn't what they had hoped for, but neither of them regretted the path they had taken.
Minato continued, "In the Second Hokage-sama's plan, the idea of segregated ninja clans would be broken apart. All children of age would enter the Ninja Academy. Before they could be indoctrinated by clan interests, they'd grow up together with peers from other clans—training, taking missions, facing life and death together…"
Madara Uchiha finally understood Tobirama's intention. Just like how he and Hashirama had once been—suspecting each other might come from enemy factions yet refusing to let their surnames sever the bond they had formed.
"Once those children grow up and the new generation replaces the old, they'll naturally get rid of those stubborn elders clinging to outdated ideas!"
Ever since the alliance was formed, both Hashirama and Madara had endured ceaseless nagging from their clans' old traditionalists.
Talk of how their parents and brothers hadn't died for this, how they were betraying their ancestors, how this path would surely bring disaster in the future...
No matter how many times you explained it to them, they simply wouldn't listen.
"In the plan, the Senju clan would be dissolved. They'd discard their surname and integrate into other families—or into the civilian population—through marriage." Minato Namikaze recalled the shock he'd felt reading that document. "From one perspective, it really was setting the Senju on the path to decline..."
"But from another perspective, it meant the Senju would become the branches and veins of Konoha itself—like chakra networks flowing through every part of the body."
Hashirama stood silently in the black-and-red Tsukuyomi world.
After recovering from his initial surprise, Madara Uchiha glanced at Tobirama Senju. "No matter the era, you're always the same. You let your enemies believe they've already won, and then strike them with the killing blow."
Hearing that, Madara realized he might truly need to reconsider the alliance between the Senju and the Uchiha.
"If only the Uchiha had a leader like that—someone who could truly integrate the clan into Konoha instead of trapping us inside the narrow confines of the family..."
Itachi Uchiha, silent until now, finally spoke.
His voice was flat, but filled with yearning for that kind of leader.
That one sentence left the current Uchiha leader, Madara Uchiha, utterly speechless.
A junior of his clan was actually admiring Tobirama Senju's ruthless strategy?!!
The feeling hit Madara hard—like being told by a younger relative that the next-door neighbor's elder was better than him. But even that comparison didn't quite capture the sensation. It felt like something had reached into his chest and scraped at his heart.
At that moment, Minato Namikaze let out a quiet sigh and apologized to Itachi for the premature death of his counterpart in another timeline.
"Why apologize, Minato-sama?" Since this Minato had not yet become the Fourth Hokage, Itachi addressed him as "Minato-sama".
Minato shook his head. "I'm not just apologizing on behalf of the version of me from your world. I also want to scold you on behalf of Fugaku-senpai."
At the mention of his father, Itachi's pupils tightened sharply.
Killing his parents, wiping out his clan—these were sins he believed could never be forgiven. They were also why he allowed his illness to run its course, wishing only to die and apologize in another world to his parents and to his clan.
"I think..." Minato drew out the words, "I think you never truly understood your parents, Itachi."
The statement struck him like a blow.
Inside his sleeve, the hand bearing the Akatsuki ring clenched tightly.
His father's final visit—using a Shadow Clone—and those last words...
"Fugaku-senpai always wanted the Uchiha to integrate into Konoha," Minato continued. "He was simply born at the wrong time. After the First Nine-Tails Incident, the fear Konoha's leadership and villagers had toward the Uchiha's eyes was too deeply rooted."
Minato locked eyes with the young man before him, only three or four years his junior.
"And as for the Uchiha temperament—you know it well enough…"
"Sensitive, proud, suspicious! Their pride matters more than their lives! They'd rather die than be disrespected, and yet they're socially anxious with outsiders!" Tobirama cut in, his tone carrying a distinct edge. Whether he was criticizing the Uchiha or Madara personally was unclear.
"Tobirama!" Hashirama tugged at his brother's robe, quietly urging him to tone it down.
Tobirama crossed his arms, pouted, and gave an indignant "Hmph!"
Under other circumstances, Minato would have laughed at the Second Hokage's remark.
But right now, as he looked at Itachi, his heart was heavy with regret.
"Had I not died during the Second Nine-Tails Incident, I planned to work with Fugaku-senpai during my tenure to repair the relationship between Konoha and the Uchiha."
"By the way, even though Obito was an Uchiha, people often overlooked the kind of person he really was. Even the older villagers who lived through the First Nine-Tails Incident adored him..."
Madara raised an eyebrow. Why bring up that brat out of nowhere? He wanted to hear what this man—said to become Hokage—had to say.
"If circumstances allowed, I hoped Obito could become the first Uchiha Hokage, leading the clan toward full integration with Konoha."
Minato looked at the slashed forehead protector on Itachi's head, the mark of a missing-nin.
"It's just a shame that in your future, not only did I die, but Obito didn't even live to adulthood..."
The blond man's eyelids lowered, grief and guilt weighing heavily on his expression.
"That was my failure as a teacher. And as the future Fourth Hokage, it was a promise I failed to fulfill—to help the Uchiha clan become part of Konoha."
Madara Uchiha: "...."
"It feels like some unseen force always stops the Uchiha from fully integrating into Konoha," Minato sighed, voicing a casual complaint.
Even he couldn't help but feel resistance toward such a bleak future.
But that offhand remark drew Tobirama's full attention.
"What do you mean? What else is there?"
Minato glanced at Madara. "According to Konoha's chronicles, it was indeed the Uchiha Clan Head—Madara Uchiha—who led the Nine-Tails to attack Konoha, attempting to destroy it, only to be defeated by the First Hokage..."
Hashirama's eyes widened before sorrow overtook them.
Tobirama looked at his brother but said nothing.
Madara's dark eyes revealed no emotion, no hint of humanity.
At some point, the one telling the story shifted from Itachi Uchiha to Minato Namikaze.
He loved reading. When he wasn't on missions, he could spend an entire day doing nothing but reading. That was how, while searching for techniques that suited him, he discovered many of the Second Hokage's manuscripts and several volumes of the Konoha Chronicles written by others...
"It's said that long ago, the Second Hokage, Tobirama-sama, also spared a member of the Uchiha clan. He placed great hopes on that subordinate, Kagami Uchiha, wishing for him to become clan head and lead the Uchiha to integrate with Konohagakure."
Tobirama Senju said, "And then?"
"Not long after Tobirama-sama sacrificed himself, falling into the traps set by the Kumo ninja to save his subordinates, Kagami Uchiha also died during a mission."
"..."
Hearing Kagami's name, Itachi couldn't help thinking of Shisui… Kagami Uchiha's descendant.
He said, "After the death of the Fourth Hokage-sama, the Konoha leadership suspected that the Uchiha Clan had used the Sharingan to control the Nine-Tails. Because they no longer trusted us, the clan was moved to the far outskirts of Konoha… I personally thought it was a pretty good place, but most of the clan couldn't accept being pushed away like that."
Itachi's voice was heavy with regret.
Using Tsukuyomi, he projected his memories into the space, showing them to Uchiha Madara and the three future Hokage.
"The Uchiha Police Force struggled to carry out their duties. Father and Mom began attending secret meetings more often, buying large quantities of ninja tools and explosive tags without reporting to the Hokage. Shisui and I wanted to stop the Uchiha coup, but Danzō Shimura didn't trust him at all—he even stole his Mangekyō."
The scenes appeared through Tsukuyomi: two boys caught between clan and village, desperately trying to mediate, yet accomplishing nothing.
Murdered by Danzō Shimura, the short-haired Uchiha youth made a final gamble, forcing out a green Susanoo with the single eye he had left.
Two boys standing on a cliff, utterly helpless.
One entrusted his last Mangekyō and its remnants to his friend; the other, newly bereaved, awakened his own Mangekyō and stepped onto a path with no return.
Then came his life as a double agent in ANBU, wavering between loyalty to the clan and loyalty to the village.
"Kakashi-senpai, do you think that if you accept Obito-senpai's Sharingan, you also have to accept the responsibility he entrusted to you?"
"Yeah. That's what I believe."
"I see… then I understand."
On the night of the full moon, the boy chose peace, his journey, and the promise he'd made to his dearest friend…
When Konoha's leadership used Sasuke to threaten him, ordering Itachi to slaughter the clan with his own hands, Madara Uchiha finally snapped.
He shattered Itachi's Tsukuyomi with his Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan.
The technique rebounded.
To Sasuke, it looked like Itachi had activated his Mangekyō one moment, only to collapse to the ground the next, coughing violently.
A sound like his heart was tearing apart.
Blood seeped through his fingers.
Blood tears streamed from his eyes—and blood poured uncontrollably from his mouth and nose!!
...
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